It's Not What You Think
by Inspired by Your Love
Summary: RPF Real People Fic : Lea and Darren have been together for 4 years and he's suddenly acting strange. Lea thinks he's cheating but he says he's not. Lea learns that you should never assume the worst because the best might just be what's coming.


It's their fourth anniversary of actually being together and Darren has been acting strangely and avoiding her all day. Lea can't help but to suspect the worst when he doesn't even look at her that morning when they woke up snuggled in each others' arms in their bed. He just kissed her quickly and then got out of bed saying something about having to go to the set of the new movie he's starring in.

She knows for a fact that he doesn't have to go to set today. They're playing love interests in that movie and the director told them not to go in since they weren't filming any of their scenes that day. It hurts her to know that for the first time in four years, Darren is keeping something from her.

She tries to forget about it as she makes herself breakfast, making some extra for him just in case he comes back wanting something to eat. She makes her famous vegan triple chocolate chip muffins (it's her own secret recipe) that she only makes for their anniversaries. She knows they're his favorites because he always makes a comment of being her sex slave for the rest of his life when she bakes them.

He's still not back home by the time she's finished baking even though she spent some extra time tidying up the kitchen. She resigns herself to eating the anniversary breakfast alone.

Afterwards, when she's completely full and has cleaned up after herself, she goes back to the bedroom since the entire apartment is spotless and lies down on his side of the bed. She closes her eyes and wills herself not to cry.

She grabs her phone off the nightstand and composes a text to Dianna asking her if she wants to hang out because 'Darren is being a dickface' and avoiding her 'on our anniversary of all fucking days, D!'. Dianna tells her she can't hang out because she has plans. It's strange because the day before when she asked her best friend what she was doing she told her that she wasn't doing anything since Mark was out of town for the day. Now she gets a little suspicious because since when has Dianna not wanted to hang out with her every chance they got?

She texts every single one of her best friends (her old Glee cast because they still stayed very close even after they all left the show) asking them if they want to do something and receiving strangely similar answers from all of them.

By now she's done feeling sorry for herself and she's actually pissed off. Obviously something is going on and everyone is in on it but her. She ends up falling asleep while trying to think of what could possibly be going on that she can't know about.

She wakes up later when she feels the bed dip and realizes that it's Darren sitting in front of her when he starts to stroke her arm gently to wake her. She returns the sweet kiss he places on her lips before she quickly remembers that she's angry with him and pulls away to glare at him.

"Oh so _now_ I'm good enough to talk to," Lea mutters. She rolls her eyes as she sees the surprise on Darren's face.

"Lee, babe, what are you talking about?" he has a hesitant but confused smile on his face.

"Don't 'Lee, babe' me," she crosses her arms and turns her face away from him to look out the window. "You've been ignoring me _all day, _Darren. You wouldn't look me in the eye this morning when you left _and _you lied to me. You've _never _lied to me before! I have to know…"

There's a long pause as he waits for her to finish her sentence but prompts her to go on when it becomes obvious that she isn't going to continue.

"You have to know what, Lea?" Darren asks the question and Lea can hear the hurt in his tone. She winces but doesn't allow her resolve to break because _he's _the one that's been acting strange. She has a right to know what's going on.

She doesn't answer immediately so he presses on, "Please tell me what's going on, baby," he begs.

"A-are you cheating on me?" she asks it so quietly that he barely even heard her.

"What are you – I – what?" his voice is incredulous and she holds her breath waiting for his answer. "No! Of course I'm not cheating on you. Why would you even ask me that?"

"_Because you've been avoiding me all day!_" the words came out a little louder and harsher than she intended but she's just so damn angry. If he isn't cheating on her, then why did he lie to her?

She doesn't realize she's voiced her question until she hears his answer, "because I was picking up your ring, damnit!"

There's another pause – this one shocked instead of heavy with accusation - as both their eyes widen at the sudden revelation before Darren starts muttering curses under his breath. Lea can tell that that was not what he had planned because he's started to pace across their bedroom. It's making her slightly dizzy to be honest.

"Darren," she calls and receives no answer as he continues pacing, running his fingers through his hair and muttering to himself. "Darren. Darren, baby. DARREN!"

He turns to face her so abruptly that she swears he probably got whiplash from it. "Yeah?"

"I hope that's not how you're planning on proposing to me because I demand that you think of something better and do it over," she says playfully, now that she knows she has his attention.

He returns to his place on the bed and grabs her hand, kissing each of her fingers – lingering on the finger they both know will have his ring on it soon – and her palm. Lea's heart melts at the gesture because Darren is just so damn sweet and she knows how lucky she is to have such a sweet man like him all to herself.

"Of course that's not how I planned to propose, Star," he murmurs, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. "I had this whole thing planned for tonight."

"Tell me about your plan," she whispers breathily, entranced just by the thought of the simple romance he had planned for the night.

"Well," he starts, stroking the sliver of skin revealed by the gap between her tank top and shorts. "First I was going to cook you an amazing surprise dinner because I found this great recipe for vegan lasagna that I knew you would love. Then we'd have the dessert I made before having some of this French wine that I bought just for the occasion. After we'd finished our first glass, I'd get down on one knee in front of you and ask you to be my wife."

"Oh Darren," she murmurs, wrapping her arms around him tightly and pressing her lips firmly to his. "I love you so much. I love that you had it so perfectly planned out and I'm sorry for ruining it by being such a bitch."

He chuckled, "you are not a bitch. I don't blame you for getting so upset, Lee. I've never hidden anything from you and I would react the same way if the roles were reversed."

"No you would not," she giggled. "You're way too sweet to ever do something like that."

"Oh stop it you," he laughed, tickling her sides lightly.

"You know," she said, trailing her fingers up and down his arm. "I saved you some of my vegan triple chocolate muffins. I know how much you love those."

He jumps up and grabs her hand, pulling her out of bed before rushing to the kitchen. She knows he's tempted to throw her over his shoulder so they could get there faster without her dragging her legs but he doesn't with the warning look she sends him. She wouldn't mind it any other time but she really thinks they shouldn't be doing that for a while. She loves him for the fact that no matter how playful they get, he doesn't do anything he thinks she would be truly uncomfortable with.

"Hey Darren," she says, laughter clear in her voice.

"Yeah, babe?" he mutters with a mouth full of muffin.

"Where's my ring?" she asks slyly, knowing that he'll know her answer to his unspoken proposal.

"Really?" he asks eagerly, his eyes wide with excitement.

"Yeah, really," she squeals and giggles again as he picks her up, spinning her around and kissing her passionately.

Later, when they're lying in bed with a post-orgasmic glow about them, she hands him his gift. The neighbors hit the wall with a broom and shout for them to keep it down when he yells "I'm gonna be a dad!" so loudly, she's sure her parents in New York heard him.

_Fin._


End file.
